r/ActuaryUK

I am currently in my first year of uni doing a maths degree and I plan on taking CS1 next April, CM1 after that. However, I’ve been wondering if it’s realistic at all that I’ll find an entry level role (or a summer intership) since I am not attending university in the UK?

I won’t require any visa sponsorship, but will not being able to provide A levels results and having a less well-known foreign university on my CV be a significant disadvantage? Would pursuing a Master's in the UK be worth it to better my chances, given the very high costs?

How competitive is the entry level market ,specifically in London?

Any advice on the best way to spend the next 2 years as to make myself a better candidate is greatly appreciated.

I'm planning to take CP1 in September (would be my last paper if I pass my SA and CP3 from April). I read through some posts here on CP1 studying advice and came up with a study plan. Would like to get feedback if the plan is realistic and if any changes I should make?

CP1 Study plan in order:

1. CMP Reading (3 hour average per Chapter x 38 Chapters): 114 study hours

2. Assignment X [(3 hours trial + 3 hours going through solutions) x 5 sets]: 30 study hours

3. 10 PYPs + 1 Mock [(6.5 hours trial for PP1 & PP2 + 8 hours going through solution) x 11]: 160 hours

Total: 304 hours

This is less than 400 hours recommended by IFOA, did I miss anything? Do you really need to study 400 hours before you can pass this paper?

Another question is: given that I already studied SP7, SP8 and SA3 (all the GI papers), should I just skip all the chapters relating to GI and overlapped contents like Regulation and External Markets?

Thanks a lot in advance.

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Hi all,

I wanted to ask for opinions on this matter.

I've been making really good progress on my exams, provided my last sitting went well, I hope to be qualified within 2-3 sittings.

My day job however is a different matter. I genuinely try my hardest during 9-5, but have issues such as: My manager will teach me something. I'll write it down, I'll even know where it is, but then when it comes up in a discussion later I won't remember it or will have to faff about trying to find it. I can feel my manager’s disappointment knowing I haven’t actioned upon it or taken it into consideration in what I’m talking about, despite discussing the same week.

A large part of this is because I'm genuinely drained from my commute, I go to a local office with some of my team and a further office where my manager is. When I go to my manager’s office, I’m genuinely dead tired by the time I arrive - but that means the only days my manager sees me he’ll likely think I am an idiot or purposely being obtuse/lazy in my job because I am barely awake. He knows I’ve done well on my exams, even looked at my educational history when I joined and knows I did pretty well. This probably makes them think even more that I am somehow being an idiot/lazy in my job, because how can such a person have such low standards.

My manager keeps trying to give me more work (very busy team) and I try my best to do it, but if I get stuck then they aren’t really able to help - they’re snowed under (hence offloading to me), will expect me to have a proper go of things with little check in time and then when they review close to deadline date they’ll spot severe oversights - sometimes I realise I should have spotted that but sometimes I probably wouldn’t, and then it’s extremely time pressured. This reflects really poorly on me, having done the work to what I believe is a good standard, then realising I’ve messed up on a key assumption and having to redo the whole piece of work at the last minute. A lot of these oversights are due to the volume of the work (which really is normal for the team) which I have to get through at a fast pace or the time pressure.

I don’t want a victim/sympathy mentality - I’ve been in this role a fair while and I should be expected to be able to do things without being hand held. If I am a qualified actuary in a year - people will send things my way and will expect a certain standard without having to peer review, and I won’t have a higher up with which I can ask how to do things.

I guess my concern is that I am just not that great at my job and keep seeming like an idiot. I think once I qualify I’ll certainly have more mental capacity for my job, given I won’t be studying and I know that it does severely reduce my mental bandwidth during my 9-5 given I study before work and use my brain's "peak hours" for studying. But regardless I just feel hopeless at how much I underperform despite my efforts. My biggest concern of all is that I get fired for this. I don't know how common it is to get fired in this role. I don't want to get doxxed but I'm not in a London Market/Lloyd's role.

I just sat CB2 and CS1, and am debating which to sit in the September sitting, the other I’ll sit in the April ‘25 sitting with CB1 (hopefully). Everyone I’ve asked has conflicting opinions on which out of CM1 and CS2 is the best to sit in the shorter summer sitting! Very confused.

For anyone who was aware of the out of syllabus question 4 in this sittings CS2A paper, I have an update.

I emailed them basically saying that whilst some aspects of the question could be deemed as applied logic (essentially to workout which side of the equation to put your values when making the initial surplus equality), some other aspects were out of syllabus (I.e.how to apply premium loading) and that it unfairly disadvantaged those of us who hadn't taken CM2 yet.

I didn't ask them to discount the whole question, just to apply some lenient marking to the marks allocated to the premium loading part, where any approach to how to handle it is given full marks, even if that approach is wrong according to CM2 standards.

I've had a response basically saying that they've passed the feedback onto the examination team who will review it and consider if any mitigating actions are required, but we won't find out until after results are published in the examiner's report.

At that point it will be too late to do anything because our results will already be set in stone. So I guess there's not much to be done other than wait and hope 🙃

Heads up that IFoA have put the usual exam survey in the student newsletter sent now.

Lets use our chance to feedback and we might hope for a smoother sitting in September

Does anyone have any recommendations for learning SQL and Python, perhaps any courses you've taken or courses designed for actuaries? I have a little experience with Python, but none with SQL and I'm looking to familiarise myself with them before starting an internship over the summer. Thanks!

Hey Guys,

If you have experience hiring candidates, I would like to seek your thoughts on candidate selection.

What do you think a candidate wanting to switch from life insurance to P&C.

1. Clear a GI exam, SP7 or SP8.

2. Explain willingness to make the switch on CV.

3. Potentially get data science related certificate.

Thanks for your inputs.

Thoughts? Anyone else have exam download issues? That was more stress that I need on a Monday morning.

Thoughts anyone ?

How did everyone find it?

Thought it was a pretty standard CB1 paper, thankfully made easier by the absolute gift of Q19. Hoping the pass mark stays around the same.

What did everyone think?

I just notice that I copied the link version of the excel table to the word file as it gives a reminder when I open the word file after exam.

Are there any other people who had this issue before? Will it affect the exam results?

How much effort is this for the September sitting? I have notes already from friends. Maybe TMI but my depression has come back badly so I was thinking of just studying for these exams instead of having a summer

Hi all,

I’m a second year uni student, and unfortunately last year I didn’t manage to secure my CB2 exemption (by about 2-3 marks 🥲). I’m planning on taking it in September, and this would be my first time taking an IFoA exam and wanted to ask if anyone had any advice for someone in my position.

Also, I’ve seen that the new system for CB1 and CB2 was meant to roll out for April’s exam period, but that was delayed. Do you guys think it will roll out for September?

Many thanks in advance 🙏

Thoughts?

I am currently a field service engineer for an engineering company but am looking to do a part time degree with a view to potentially pursuing an actuarial career. I currently have a HNC in electronics engineering(not transferable credits) but would look to do economics with mathematical sciences with open university. Would this degree be of any use? Is this the best way for me to enter this career? I previously did a levels and did ok at AS but due to circumstances at home had a bad second year but AS maths was a B.

I would prefer not to take a big step down in pay to train for this role which is why am considering a part time degree.

I have over 10 years of diversified experience from Canada including experience with IFRS 17. Fully qualified with excellent career track record. My family and I want to relocate to the UK next year. I'm looking to find a job that would sponsor my work visa. How do I start?

How did everyone find it?

I'm curious what the distribution of marks that people get is. I see a lot of comments about people failing a paper by 1-2 marks, but I imagine this is sampling bias.

Has anyone done any surveys, or has the IFOA released any data to this effect?

Well I m very confused whether to give CS2 or cm1 as I just gave my first actuary exam (CS1) , the lectures for these exams just began , but I m planning to give these exams on next April attempt and giving cb2 in the September attempt SO PLZZ HELP

How did it go? I find it to be somewhat confusing thinking around what to write in letter.

With about 9 minutes allowed per 5 mark question I’m really struggling to come up with more than 2-3 distinct points to make.

I don’t think time is the issue as even giving myself double the time to complete them I. Practice I’m still sat there twiddling my thumbs trying to approach it from several different angles.

I don’t know how I can try and be a bit more creative because upon reading the make scheme a lot of their answers I just would never even think about.

How can I improve my technique with these other than practice practice practice?

Thanks!!